Like many dairies throughout the U.S., Desperado Dairy and Du Brook Dairy had a difficult time retaining dependable workers at their Casa Grande, Arizona Dairies. That changed in 2018, when the dairy teamed up with the Florence West Prison to help fill the vacant positions.
Desperado Dairy’s owner, Casey Dugan, represents the fourth generation in his family milking cows. His grandfather, Michael Dugan moved from Wisconsin to Arizona in 1965 and all six of his children became dairy producers in Arizona.
Dugan worked for his father, Pat, at the home dairy, Du Brook Dairy, until 2010. That year included a big change, as Dugan married his wife, Andrea, purchased 1,000 cows from his father, and started milking in a dry lot facility on his own. A decade later, the Dugans moved to a neighboring dairy, closer to the home farm, that was newer and featured Saudi-Style dairy barns.
“Now we can milk twice the number of cows with the same number of employees,” he shares. “Overall, we became more efficient at the new facility.”
Earlier this month, Dugan purchased an additional 800 cows from his father and today milks 2,000 cows three times a day. Between Desperado Dairy and his father’s dairy, Du Brook Dairy, and their mutual feed operation, the family has 60 employees all together.
Operating a dairy of that magnitude brings a lot of challenges, including filling labor needs.
“Overall, we had a great group of guys working for us,” the Dugans state. “It’s just the bottom 10% that don’t stick around. It’s just harder and harder to find people, especially with Arizona’s growth that also increases the demand for construction jobs.”
In 2018, Dugan signed up for a rural leadership program, called Project Centrl, where the group toured rural industries, like a mine, dairy farm, feed lot and a prison within the Grand Canyon State. When touring the prison, the head warden spoke to the group about the Arizona Correctional Institute (ACI) work program. Dugan personally asked the warden for his contact information, stating he was aware of the program and had tried to contact the prison before, with no luck of anyone returning his call. The warden connected the dots, with ACI coming out to tour the entire Dugan dairy operation.
“They were super excited because a dairy farm is very structured and requires year-round work,” Dugan shares.
Desperado Dairy and Du Brook both incorporated inmates into their workforce soon after, and Dugan shares at one point they had as many as 30 inmates working for them.
“It was working very well for us,” he says.
Pulsation Pause
In March of 2020, a scary moment unfolded at the dairies, when the prison came to pick up all their inmates employed at both Desperado Dairy and Du Brook Dairy in the middle of a milking shift. Worried about COVID-19, the work program instantly got shut down, just like everything else did.
“This was a very scary time for us,” Dugan says. “We instantly had to make some changes.”
The dairies immediately switched from 3x to 2x milking, plus scrounged to find help – any help to get the cows milked.
And scrounge they did. The dairy manager’s son played high school baseball, so they asked the team if anyone wanted to work. With the school being closed, the kids were looking for something to do, so they traded in their cleats for work boots and went to work milking cows.
“We probably had twice as many employees on payroll as we normally do because the students didn’t work more than three days a week,” Dugan says. “But overall, the costs were the same and truthfully it helped us out.”
Dugan shares that the barns were quiet, as the players sported an earbud in one ear; listening to music of their liking. They players also were very gentle with the cattle, as well as cautious, as they had never been around large animals before.
“They were quiet, and the work got done, so I didn’t care,” he shared. “Plus, the kids had something to do during COVID and made some money, so it was a win-win situation.”
Back to Work
After getting double vaccinated, last spring the work program was back on – and the Dugans began employing inmates again.
“Most people question hiring inmates,” he says. “But these guys in the work program are model inmates, meaning they went to prison because they got two DUI’s or something like that. And they really just want to work.”
To qualify for the outside work program, inmates have to go through a series of programs instituted by the prison.
Currently, the Dugans have 12 inmates working on the dairies, with most of them milking, but one is employed as a welder, and one as a mechanic.
“They were once welders or scraper drivers. The more you get to know them, you realize they are regular people, and they just want to work and get through their time,” he shares. “And they’re really excited to be here working and we’re equally excited to have the extra labor. You know that somebody’s willing to do the work.”
The inmates arrive and depart together, along with several guards. At the dairy, the guards rotate through the parlor, calf barns, shop, making their rounds and constantly doing a headcount.
“Once you get a crew and get them trained, we’re solid,” Dugan shares. “We prefer them not having experience, so we can train them.”
Dugan shares that an inmate taking a job in the prison often makes $1/hr. At the dairy they can make $5/hr., plus Dugan must pay the guards between $25-$30/hr.
“We have 10-12 inmates at all times working for us, so that averages around minimum wage or higher,” he shares. “To comply with ACI, the rate has to be at least minimum wage [$12.80] or above.”
Dugan notes that the inmates do not have cell phones, which is nice, as they have little to no distraction and that they all come and depart at the same time.
“They’re excited to work,” Dugan states. “The good thing is if the inmate doesn’t want to work, there’s somebody next in line, waiting to replace them.”
Dugan shares that there are a few stipulations to utilizing the ACI work program, including:
- No weapons in your vehicles or on the dairy farm.
- No alcohol allowed on the farm.
- Only inmates can wear orange clothing.
- Dairy must be willing to have inspections anytime.
“They can bring the dogs in and check your whole place to ensure there are no drugs,” Dugan remarks. “But really, this is all the stuff you don’t want on your farm anyhow.”
Rehabilitation
The inmates using this work program generally leave the prison with $6,000, plus good work experience. The Dugans have written many references letters to illustrate their solid work ethic.
“They’re good guys and we’ve hired four of them after they got out of prison, giving them both a place to work and a full-time job. And they’re still working for us today,” he shares.
Overall, working with ACI has changed Dugan’s opinion about the prison industry.
“They’re good people. Most think they’re convicts, but they also have good in them, you just have to find it,” he says.
The Dugans have enjoyed getting to know his inmate employees from ACI and says most of them like working with cattle.
“It’s probably fair to say a lot of guys in jail are not good working with people, but many like to work with animals,” he says.
The inmates find therapy in the routine of a dairy farm, the calmness of the environment and that they get to be part of something bigger than themselves. Once again, the Dugan says this was a ‘win-win’ situation. A win for the prison, to find good work for these inmates, that can help propel them onto a better life and a win for the dairies, helping fill their labor needs.
ACI notes that they are not taking jobs that those outside the prison walls can take, but simply helping fill open positions that come with labor challenges that face a lot of rural jobs, like dairy.
